Landscape and reality in Apuleius' Metamorphoses

Postprin

E-finance-lab at the House of Finance : about us

The financial services industry is believed to be on the verge of a dramatic [r]evolution. A substantial redesign of its value chains aimed at reducing costs, providing more efficient and flexible services and enabling new products and revenue streams is imminent. But there seems to be no clear migration path nor goal which can cast light on the question where the finance industry and its various players will be and should be in a decade from now. The mission of the E-Finance Lab is the development and application of research methodologies in the financial industry that promote and assess how business strategies and structures are shared and supported by strategies and structures of information systems. Important challenges include the design of smart production infrastructures, the development and evaluation of advantageous sourcing strategies and smart selling concepts to enable new revenue streams for financial service providers in the future. Overall, our goal is to contribute methods and views to the realignment of the E-Finance value chain. ..

A two cities theorem for the parabolic Anderson model

The parabolic Anderson problem is the Cauchy problem for the heat equation $\partial_tu(t,z)=\Delta u(t,z)+\xi(z)u(t,z)$ on $(0,\infty)\times {\mathbb{Z}}^d$ with random potential $(\xi(z):z\in{\mathbb{Z}}^d)$. We consider independent and identically distributed potentials, such that the distribution function of $\xi(z)$ converges polynomially at infinity. If $u$ is initially localized in the origin, that is, if u(0,{z})={\mathbh1}_0({z}), we show that, as time goes to infinity, the solution is completely localized in two points almost surely and in one point with high probability. We also identify the asymptotic behavior of the concentration sites in terms of a weak limit theorem.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AOP405 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

A Model of the Ventral Visual System Based on Temporal Stability and Local Memory

The cerebral cortex is a remarkably homogeneous structure suggesting a rather generic computational machinery. Indeed, under a variety of conditions, functions attributed to specialized areas can be supported by other regions. However, a host of studies have laid out an ever more detailed map of functional cortical areas. This leaves us with the puzzle of whether different cortical areas are intrinsically specialized, or whether they differ mostly by their position in the processing hierarchy and their inputs but apply the same computational principles. Here we show that the computational principle of optimal stability of sensory representations combined with local memory gives rise to a hierarchy of processing stages resembling the ventral visual pathway when it is exposed to continuous natural stimuli. Early processing stages show receptive fields similar to those observed in the primary visual cortex. Subsequent stages are selective for increasingly complex configurations of local features, as observed in higher visual areas. The last stage of the model displays place fields as observed in entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. The results suggest that functionally heterogeneous cortical areas can be generated by only a few computational principles and highlight the importance of the variability of the input signals in forming functional specialization

[2.2](4,7)Isobenzofuranophanes - Synthesis, Characterisation and Reactivity

The isomeric Diels-Alder adducts 3, obtained by cycloaddition of tetraphenylcyclopentadienone to the 4,5:12,13-bis-(oxanorbornadieno)[2.2]paracyclophanes syn,syn- and anti,-syn-2[Note ][The stereochemical descriptors syn and anti refer to the orientation of the oxygen bridge in the oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptadiene subunits with respect to the [2.2]paracyclophaneskeleton.], yield the unstable isobenzofuranophane 4 by consecutive extrusion of carbon monoxide and tetraphenylbenzene when heated to 180°C. The molecular ion of 4 was observed in the EI mass spectrum. The stable tetraphenyl-substituted analogue 10 was synthesized independently from the previously unknown 4,5,12,13-tetrabenzoyl[2.2]paracyclophane (9). UV/Vis as well as fluorescence spectra and an X-ray crystal structure analysis of 9 are reported

Phase synchrony facilitates binding and segmentation of natural images in a coupled neural oscillator network

Synchronization has been suggested as a mechanism of binding distributed feature representations facilitating segmentation of visual stimuli. Here we investigate this concept based on unsupervised learning using natural visual stimuli. We simulate dual-variable neural oscillators with separate activation and phase variables. The binding of a set of neurons is coded by synchronized phase variables. The network of tangential synchronizing connections learned from the induced activations exhibits small-world properties and allows binding even over larger distances. We evaluate the resulting dynamic phase maps using segmentation masks labeled by human experts. Our simulation results show a continuously increasing phase synchrony between neurons within the labeled segmentation masks. The evaluation of the network dynamics shows that the synchrony between network nodes establishes a relational coding of the natural image inputs. This demonstrates that the concept of binding by synchrony is applicable in the context of unsupervised learning using natural visual stimuli

The role of first- and second-order stimulus features for human overt attention

When processing complex visual input, human observers sequentially allocate their attention to different subsets of the stimulus. What are the mechanisms and strategies that guide this selection process? We investigated the influence of various stimulus features on human overt attention—that is, attention related to shifts of gaze with natural color images and modified versions thereof. Our experimental modifications, systematic changes of hue across the entire image, influenced only the global appearance of the stimuli, leaving the local features under investigation unaffected. We demonstrated that these modifications consistently reduce the subjective interpretation of a stimulus as "natural” across observers. By analyzing fixations, we found that first-order features, such as luminance contrast, saturation, and color contrast along either of the cardinal axes, correlated to overt attention in the modified images. In contrast, no such correlation was found in unmodified outdoor images. Second-order luminance contrast ("texture contrast”) correlated to overt attention in all conditions. However, although none of the second-order color contrasts were correlated to overt attention in unmodified images, one of the second-order color contrasts did exhibit a significant correlation in the modified images. These findings imply, on the one hand, that higher-order bottom-up effects—namely, those of second-order luminance contrast—may partially account for human overt attention. On the other hand, these results also demonstrate that global image properties, which correlate to the subjective impression of a scene being "natural,” affect the guidance of human overt attentio

Koncepcja stare decisis w systemie prawa niemieckiego – niespójna systemowo koncepcja posiadająca wysoką realną wartość

It is worth mentioning that the German legal system is based on the codified law. This system lacks in stare decisis and precedents in general, which – in principle – does not raise doubts. The role of precedent in the decisional process is relative and dependent on the question as to whether the case may be resolved pursuant to a legal act. In that case, precedents would not play any or almost any role at all. However, the role of precedents increases, when there is a lack of appropriate legal rights, or if legal rights require interpretation. It should be emphasised that stare decisis understood as a formally binding precedent refers only to rulings issued by the Federal Constitutional Court, whereas precedents of higher courts have a significant meaning to everyday judicial practice in Germany, despite the fact that they are not formally binding.Należy wskazać, że niemiecki system prawa opiera się na prawie skodyfikowanym. W systemie tym brak stare decisis oraz precedensów w ogóle, co do zasady nie budzi to wątpliwości. Rola precedensu w procesie decyzyjnym sądów jest względna i zależy od tego, czy sprawa może zostać rozstrzygnięta zgodnie z brzmieniem ustawy. Wówczas precedensy nie będą odgrywać żadnej roli lub będzie ona marginalna. W przypadku, gdy brak jest odpowiedniego prawa ustawowego lub jeśli ustawowe prawo wymaga interpretacji, rola precedensów wzrasta. Należy podkreślić, że stare decisis w sensie formalnie wiążącego precedensu odnosi się tylko do orzeczeń Federalnego Trybunału Konstytucyjnego. Natomiast precedensy wyższych sądów, choć nie są formalnie wiążące, mają istotne znaczenie dla codziennej praktyki prawniczej w Niemczech